Kallis & Lynn steer Knight Riders to victory in IPL thriller

David Cooper - Writer 23:04 24/04/2014
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  • Vital pair: Kallis (r) and Lynn (l) drover Kolkata to victory both with the bat and the field.

    Jacques Kallis and Chris Lynn combined to lead Kolkata Knight Riders to a tense two-run victory over Royal Challengers Bangalore in what was arguably the most thrilling game of IPL 7.

    Opener Kallis struck a 42-ball 43 while Australian Lynn provided the fireworks with a 45-run innings that included three fours and three sixes. Kolkata set Bangalore a rather modest target of 151 to win and Virat Kohli's side looked sure to prevail when they needed just 29 runs from the final 24 deliveries. 

    However, some fine bowling at the death and a wonder-catch from Lynn put the brakes on Bangalore's chase as Kolkata saw home the victory in front of another packed house at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium.

    Kolkata got off to the worst possible start when Mitchell Starc trapped captain Gautam Gambhir lbw for a golden duck with the third ball of the match.

    The Knight Riders were soon two down for just 10 runs when Manish Pandey (5) was caught by Kohli off the bowling of Albie Morkel. 

    But before the innings turned into a disaster, Lynn and Kallis put on an 80-run partnership to restore Kolkata's credibility. The match-saving pairing ended in the 11th over when Lynn holed out to AB De Villiers at long-off from the bowling of Varun Aaron. 

    Yusuf Pathan lasted just two deliveries before Aaron struck again, this time captain Kohli provided the safe pair of hands at mid off.

    Kallis was joined by former India international Robin Uthappa, whose speedy 22 proved vital in boosting Kolkata's run-rate. The great South African was the next to go when, in the 15th over, he sliced a Yuzvendra Chahal delivery to Yogesh Takawale at deep extra cover.

    Uthappa was then joined at the crease by Suryakumar Yadav, who remained unbeaten at the crease after striking an effective 28-runs. 

    In reply, Bangalore appeared on target to chase down the Kolkata total with relative comfort after the opening pair of Parthiv Patel (21) and Takawale (40) put on 67-runs for the first wicket inside the first eight overs.

    After Kallis trapped Takawale lbw to break up the partnership, Patel followed three balls later when he pushed a leading edge to Lynn at extra cover off the bowling of Vinay Kumar. 

    Bangalore were still in the driving seat, particularly when in-form Kohli came to the crease and struck a 23-ball 31, before Sunil Narine clean-bowled the 25-year-old. 

    Youvraj Singh equalled his captain's innings until he was caught on the deep cover boundary by Umesh Yadav. 

    Then came the moment that turned the match in Kolkata's favour when Lynn produced one of the greatest catches cricket is ver likely to witness. The Australian recovered from a slip to take an amazing catch on the boundary from a De Villiers strike with just two deliveries remaining.

    Kolkata held firm to see out the victory and the fans inside the Sharjah Cricket Stadium were treated to a genuine nail-biter of a match. 

    The result moves Kolkata level with Bangalore and Chennai Super Kings on four points, two behind the early pace-setters of Kings XI Punjab.

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